Rep. Martinez requests cancer center review

Until now, criticisms and questions of the legality of the process by which the Gila Regional Medical Center board of trustees replaced the Gila Regional Cancer Center’s longtime management company have come mostly from patients and family members. On Wednesday, though, District 39 Rep. Rudy Martinez announced that he has sent a letter to State Auditor Tim Keller requesting that his office review the hospital board’s process to ensure it was as transparent as possible.

Between mid-April and mid-July, a small subcommittee under the hospital board of trustees negotiated a contract with the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center to take over management of the local center from the New Mexico Cancer Center, which had managed the center for 22 years since its inception in Grant County. The subcommittee released zero information about the process, with the board claiming the state procurement code kept them from releasing any information — even the scores on which the subcommittee’s choice of UNM over New Mexico Cancer Center was based.

For almost a year before the hospital’s mid-April announcement, though, a nearly identical subcommittee was attempting to negotiate with New Mexico Cancer Center to renew their contract with the hospital. In January, however, the hospital’s attorneys sent an email to New Mexico Cancer Center halting negotiations with the longtime contractor, notifying them that their existing and extended contract was to be terminated, effective July 20. That email kicked off the request-for-proposal process. The approval of the RFP to fill the management position, created again by the subcommittee, was the only time any part of the process was brought before the full board of trustees for an official vote. The subcommittee would later score and choose between the two applicants as well, again with no full board approval.

Throughout all of this, the board of trustees has insisted they have handled the entire process as publicly and transparently as possible, leaning on their contracted Kemp Smith firm attorneys’ assertions as evidence.

If Keller’s office takes up Rep. Martinez’s request, it will delve deep into both the actions of the Gila Regional board, and its subcommittees and attorneys, and how they line up with state law.

“It is absolutely critical that such a process follow the law, and be as transparent as possible to maintain the public’s trust — especially when it concerns their health and well-being,” Rep. Martinez is quoted as saying in a release announcing his review request. “At the most difficult time in cancer patients’ lives, we need to make sure that local residents can access the best possible care right here at home.”

Specifically, Rep. Martinez said he requested a review of the necessity and transparency of the request-for-proposal process.

Despite what the representative’s request may signal to some readers, though, Rep. Martinez said he expects the board of trustees’ actions to come back with a clean bill of health.

It must be noted that Rep. Martinez is married to Holley Hudgins, the director of Gila Regional Cardiology, Cancer Center and Hospital-Based Physician Practices. Hudgins has been subjected to vicious accusations and calls to answer for the cancer center change throughout this process, even though she has insisted that she has had nothing to do with the contractual negotiations or decisions, despite her title.

Peter St. Cyr, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, said that he would keep an eye on any investigation as well and is interested to learn more about the board and subcommittees’ actions.

“Any exemptions to the Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act are very specific, very tailored to hospital care specifically,” he said. “The procurement code is still subjected to IPRA and OMA. We have decided as a society that we want things to be as transparent as possible, because this is a democracy. Even lawyers, if they are acting as a subcommittee for the governing body, they are subject to the Open Meetings Act.”

Of course, there may be no investigation. Rep. Martinez admitted that just because he requested an Auditor’s Office review doesn’t mean he’ll get one. He said that these things often depend on how busy the auditor is, how flush Keller, now, is with personnel. And, since state audit season for local government agencies and entities around the state is currently underway, who knows?

Gila Regional Medical Center board of trustees President Jeremiah Garcia did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday.